Electric-vehicle charge network survives

San Diego’s main charging network for electric vehicles is back from the brink.

ECOtality became the leading provider of commercial and residential electric vehicle charging stations for the San Diego area under a matching grant for $115 million in federal stimulus funds from the Department of Energy -- but went bankrupt in September.

Miami Beach, Fla.-based CarCharging Group last week acquired the so-called Blink Network of charging stations from ECOtality. The assets, scooped up for $3.3 million in cash, include some 800 commercial plug-in locations in San Diego at shopping malls, office buildings and other parking lots.

"People are pleased that the Blink stations and network will remain operational," said Suzanne Tamargo, a spokeswoman for CarCharging, in an email on Wednesday. "Our immediate goal is to resolve outstanding maintenance issues. ... We are working on integrating EV charging stations from other providers and launching a solution that streamlines the charging and payment process."

ECOtality had reported some incidences of its chargers overheating and, in rare cases, melting. As a temporary measure, ECOtality had announced a reduction in maximum power for affected chargers. CarCharging said it was too early to provide specific information on the matter, but that it had received no new reports of overheating in the month leading up to the Blink Network acquisition, or since then.

Plug-in vehicles now account for 1 in 35 cars sold or leased in California. The state still offers sizeable rebates on electric vehicles, and has set ambitious targets for expanding privately owned charging stations.

The state's goal is to have 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles, most of them electric, on the road by 2025 to help meet goals for reducing greenhouses gas emissions linked to climate change.

Other car charging networks like ChargePoint continue to add public-access stations in San Diego, where about 4,000 plug-in vehicles now circulate.

Access and pricing for commercial chargers is typically determined by the owner of each individual location -- be it a retail store trying to attract customers, or a corporate office offering daytime services to employees who commute by plug-in vehicle. Networks like Blink and ChargePoint help plug-in vehicle drivers locate chargers using mobile device apps that indicate whether plugs are taken and how much they cost, among other features.

Chargers were provided in San Diego and several other markets by ECOtality through a public-private partnership — the EV Project — designed to gather and analyze driving and charging data to help efforts to improve and expand the nation’s electric vehicle infrastructure.

Households and businesses that enrolled in the project received a charging station paid for through the Energy Department grant, as well as a credit toward installation costs, in return for sharing data about charging habits.